European Commission: Don’t use Facebook if you don’t want to be spied on

“The European Commission has warned EU citizens that they should close their Facebook accounts if they want to keep information private from US security services, finding that current Safe Harbour legislation does not protect citizen’s data,” Samuel Gibbs reports for The Guardian.

“The comments were made by EC attorney Bernhard Schima in a case brought by privacy campaigner Maximilian Schrems, looking at whether the data of EU citizens should be considered safe if sent to the US in a post-Snowden revelation landscape,” Gibbs reports. “‘You might consider closing your Facebook account, if you have one,’ Schima told attorney general Yves Bot in a hearing of the case at the European court of justice in Luxembourg.”

“The case, dubbed ‘the Facebook data privacy case,’ concerns the current Safe Harbour framework, which covers the transmission of EU citizens’ data across the Atlantic to the US. Without the framework, it is against EU law to transmit private data outside of the EU. The case collects complaints lodged against Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Microsoft-owned Skype and Yahoo,” Gibbs reports. “The case argues that the US government’s Prism data collection programme, revealed by Edward Snowden in the NSA files, which sees EU citizens’ data held by US companies passed on to US intelligence agencies, breaches the EU’s Data Protection Directive ‘adequacy’ standard for privacy protection, meaning that the Safe Harbour framework no longer applies.”

Unfortunately calling people, while nice, inevitably ends up being more time on the phone than often desirable, in the pursuit of politeness. Keeping up with people sometimes does not require voluminous amounts of direct verbal pleasantries. E-mail is virtually the same as posting on Facebook. I applaud the fact you have lots of time available to indulge more personal contact. A lot of us don’t yet like to remain in some form of contact.

“Unfortunately calling people, while nice, inevitably ends up being more time on the phone than often desirable, in the pursuit of politeness. Keeping up with people sometimes does not require voluminous amounts of direct verbal pleasantries.”

Nothing like an old friend to be on ceremonies with or be polite with out of ” necessity, huh blood ? 😉

“E-mail is virtually the same as posting on Facebook”.

And just as private and personal… Yeah right…

“I applaud the fact you have lots of time available to indulge more personal contact. A lot of us don’t yet like to remain in some form of contact.”

I never call anyone, I only call customers and businesses. I text people. Texts and calls are very intrusive and demand immediate attention. A simple Facebook message is more of an at-your-convenience style communication and not as 1990’s as email.

I don’t actively go on my Facebook, I just check it when I get a private message or if someone posts on my wall, on average not often at all. I might post something I’m passionate about on my wall a few times a year.

The risk is more for people who post ten times a day about their entire lives. (Who gives a shit anyway, nobody. Even you won’t go back and read them yourself. Not to mention a study said that if nobody sees your post within a brief period of time it’ll likely never be seen by anyone (except maybe the NSA).)

But not having one is kind of like not having an email address. It’s the most common way distant friends keep in touch, like it or not. I was invited to be in an old high school friend’s wedding last year, for example.

I guess the reasons I was holding onto mine is just as a public “here’s how to reach me” type thing for people I’m not close enough with to text or call.

I love Facebook. Everything I do, every second of the day I post and upload Pictures. From Massive Poopee 💩 to videos of me belching for minutes on end 🙊 taking pictures of everything I eat, drink and just walking around all over the place. Yeah Facebook is just awesome!!! 😛